Believe in Magic
by kim.christie32
Summary: Post 6x23 Caskett AU. "Sterile white and cream walls assault her vision when she walks in the building. The world so much like one she remembers from her own history blurs in its motion around her. Nurses, patients, beeps, cries of pain and anguish all blend around her to distract her from what she is here for. She is on a mission."
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Woke up this morning with this story flying through my head. It hasn't been beta'd so any mistakes I'll own up to. It's a little cheesy and a little fluffy but who doesn't want that from these two. It started as a quick one shot but more story is floating around my brain. It could be expanded later on this week so keep an eye out. Thanks for reading, reviewing, etc.**

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><p>Sterile white and cream walls assault her vision when she walks in the building. The world so much like one she remembers from her own history blurs in its motion around her. Nurses, patients, beeps, cries of pain and anguish all blend around her to distract her from what she is here for. She can't be bothered to take in the details here tho. She is on a mission. A mission greater than any case, tracking down any lead, finding any suspect. She's looking for him. She will always look for him.<p>

She looked for him for months when they all thought there was nothing to find. They had a body, a car, evidence and more painful reminders of his being gone than she could handle. But she knew him. Knew that he wouldn't give up on their fairytale that easily and neither will she. She won't walk away from him ever.

She finds him where she always does these days, sitting in a chair with a book and a blanket staring out the window. He's waiting from someone. He's waiting for her.

He just doesn't know it yet.

The last few months this journey has been the same. Come in early, sit with him a while, listen to his stories and leave with a heart heavier than the day before. Heavy because she misses him. Heavy because she loves him. Heavy because he's not there. She hasn't been the same since that day. The weight of the world sits on her shoulders and she's not sure if he would recognize her even if he did know her. So much has changed in the months that have followed but this has been the way for the last few.

The greeting is always the same. The instinctual gravitation of his attention to her arrival in the room where he watches her, just like he always did. He abandons the window then, too focused on her to keep a look out anymore. His arms have gained strength so his appearance in front of her takes less time now than it did in the beginning. When he's in front of her she swears she can see his heart rate speed up slightly under is too thin frame.

"What is a gorgeous girl like you doing in a place with old farts?"

She smiles. It's not the one he loves, that is still buried behind a wall but it's a smile that he returns easily. "The only old fart I see around here is the one in the wheel chair in front of me."

And just like that they are back to basics. Back to the easy banter and loaded looks. He may not know who she is anymore or why she is there but they are them here like they always have been. He asks her to join her, entertain him, take him away from this mundane place. They talk for hours about books she's read that he doesn't remember, movies that they've seen together that he doesn't remember, they talk about everything that doesn't matter that he doesn't remember.

He always has the same book in his hand when she comes and every time they sit down to eat lunch together, not the 5 star restaurants of the past but decent food for the location, she brings it up.

"What is that book you've been clutching all day? Must be a pretty good one."

He looks at it like it's Longbeard's long lost treasure. She doesn't have to see the cover to know which one it is. It's their beginning and one that they all hope will be the key to fixing everything.

"It's Nikki Heat. They tell me I wrote it. I'm a writer or something. Not that I can remember. I don't remember much these days. But they tell me I wrote it about someone special. I read it this morning. She really must have been extraordinary."

And that is something new. She tries to keep the reaction off her face but her heart skips in her chest as her breathe hitches slightly. He read it. He never reads it. Just holds it in front of him all day waiting.

"That's an interesting name for a character. Why don't you tell me about it a little bit? Don't think I've read that one yet."

His face lights up like a kid on Christmas and he dives in telling her all about Nikki Heat, the kick-ass detective and her faithful companion Jameson Rook. She laughs when he says that Rook is a little pathetic always following Nikki around. He doesn't see why he would waste so much of his time on one girl.

When his speech slows down and his eyes begin to droop she takes him back to his room. The familiar path down the hallway past the sympathetic nurses and people who have it way worse off is painful but oddly comforting. He's still here. That is what she holds on to.

She waits by his side while he naps, catching up with the boys and Lanie about the current case. Alexis calls to see if there is any progress today, always just as hopeful for a miracle as herself. When he wakes he's adorable when he realizes she's still there. They pass the time in the afternoon with him hearing her story; it isn't until dinner that she gets to theirs.

Sitting in the over lit dining room she starts to tell him about them. About that first case and how she pulled him out of his book signing. About the near misses, way to close of calls and times when signals were crossed and all looked hopeless. She tells him about the others that littered the road, Montogermery, although she skims the details in his death, the boys and Lanie, his ex's, her ex's, everything. She tells him their story like he would tell it to her. When she gets to the fateful night of the rainstorm she is tearing up and so is he. Their first year is full of laughter and more than a few tears. His proposal brings a smile and her time away isn't as painful anymore. She tells him about time travelers and killing monks, fashion queens and teen proms. She tells him it all up until the day they were supposed to wed.

By this point in the story he is back in bed, exhausted from another day of healing. His body will slowly recover and he will be able to move back into the loft, write, even play laser tag, if he remembers any of it. As he lays down he asks where her husband is and why isn't he mad that he monopolized her all day. This is the part that hurts. Everyday she has to remind him of what happened and who he is to her.

"We never got married."

"He didn't deserve you."

"What?"

"Anyone who would leave a woman like you at the alter doesn't deserve you."

"He didn't leave me at the alter. There was an accident on the day of the wedding. He never made it to the venue."

"I'm so sorry. Was he ok?"

"I hope he will be someday. He's a remarkable man, a little annoying and childish sometimes but he's my world. I wait for him everyday just like he waited for me."

"Where is he?"

And here it is. The moment where fiction becomes reality. It's always make or break and she hopes that today is one of the good ones. Their have too many bad days along their journey. They deserve some good ones. They deserve a chance to spend the good ones together.

"I'm looking at him."

The pained look on his face turns to confusion. "Did you say you were looking at him? Is he here?"

"He's you. It's me Rick. It's Kate. I'm right here. Please come back to me."

He looks at her for several minutes trying to process everything. She holds her breath like always just waiting to see what will happen next.

"Kate." The smile that accompanies the whispered words could light up the room. It's the smile he only gives her, the one she hasn't seen since she left him at the loft to get ready to be his wife. The doctors said he could regain his memory and it could happen slowly or all at once. With Castle she always knew this was how it would be. Like a romantic comedy she swears she made him sit through early on in their relationship. His blue eyes are clear and she can see in them that he remembers. He remembers everything. In that moment of clarity she knows he has found his way back to him again.

"Hey Castle. Took you long enough."

She knew he would return to her. They always find their way back to each other. After all if you don't even believe in the possibility of magic, you will never find it.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N Let me just say that working a job that lasts 18 hours a day 5 days a week and sucks up all your creative juices while writing several scripts and trying to live a "normal" life sucks. That being said I'm finally able to sit down and pick up where this left off. I won't make promises of fast updates for the future because I have other things that have added to the list of need to be written but I do love this story. So here goes another piece of the puzzle.**_

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><p>The next day the dawn breaks as it has every day for the last six months. The sun casts its glow off the buildings and slowly finds it's way into the loft windows. Just like every other day for the last six months Kate wakes alone in the bed they once shared. The pain of it has lessened as time has gone on. His scent no longer lingers on the pillow where he used to sleep. His warmth has radiated against her back leaving small patches of sweat that she could never learn to hate. His soft kisses and murmurs of <em>I love you <em>have slowly brought her to consciousness. No she wakes as she has, sudden and alone.

This morning does feel different than the many that have come before it. This morning there is a glimmer of hope she can't seem to douse. He came back to her last night. And for the first time since his return he didn't fade.

They stayed wrapped around each other for hours in the small hospital bed he now resides in. She told him about the time he has missed; filled him in on his mother and daughter, promised him they would visit him tomorrow. He apologized until she had to press her mouth to his to stop the flow. They had lain together, loved together and shared a space like they hadn't for so long.

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><p><em>They weren't supposed to spend the night together. Traditions and all but she had fought Lanie tooth and nail on the subject. The last week had taken a toll on them. Finding Rogan and getting the divorce she never knew she needed had almost been her undoing. Everyone understood in the long run. She needed her partner with her for the night before the biggest day of her life.<em>

_He has to get up and drive back to the city shortly and finish up with the lawyers but he never protested when she asked him to come. He was there for her when she needed him yet again. So here she lies with him pressed against her back, arm wrapped tightly around her front and she can't think of any better place to be._

_She knows the moment he wakes, the small kisses he places to her shoulder the first small sign. Her smile grows when the kisses move their way to her ear where he softly whispers, "I love you Mrs. Castle." She has to turn in his embrace then, see the smile that she knows is lighting up his face._

_She never thought she would get to this day, love this man as much as she does but they have fought every obstacle and slayed a Dragon along the way. She gets to marry him today and that thought pushes her mouth into his. The kiss is deep and rich and pours every ounce of feeling she has into him. She feels everything he holds back in words from his lips and the kiss breaks on two matching smiles._

"_I'm not Mrs. Castle yet Rick. T-minus 10 hours until I get that title officially."_

"_Kate you are the one and only Mrs. Castle and you always will be. The piece of paper and the ceremony only solidify what I have known for years, you are it for me Katherine Beckett. You are my forever, my third times a charm and every other cliché thing you could ever come up with. I love you more than I ever thought was possible and will until the end of time."_

_She can't hold back the tears that flow down her cheek from this man and his words. She gets to be Mrs. Richard Castle today. She has never felt luckier._

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><p>She knows it's risky to hope again, to want again, but she can't stop herself. Yesterday she got her partner back and she refuses to lose him again.<p>

Rising from the bed and noting the still made half of sheets where he used to sleep she makes a promise to herself. He is coming home for real. He is coming home for good. He is coming home to them.

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><p>There is a spring in her step when she walks through his door. And if he didn't know any better he would never guess that this isn't where they were supposed to be. He can see that glow carrying her through the door of the honeymoon suite they should be in, waltzing her to their bed with a lightness that he had to fight to find in her.<p>

But they are not on a private beach on Bora Bora. They are not even in their bedroom at the loft. She told him yesterday that this was the only place that could treat him, surrounded by old men who shuffled their feet and women who raced their wheelchairs down the halls like it was NASCAR. They put him in an old folks home. He has never felt so old in his life.

It might have to do with the wheelchair he is dependent on or the bedpan they insist he use. It could be the mashed up bland meals they say are steak and potatoes. But more than likely it is the lack of her. Her spirit is what makes him feel young. Only two people in his life have ever had that power, his daughter and the woman bouncing towards him.

He takes her kiss gladly knowing that he needs the reassurance as much as she does. He's alive, he's back and he has no idea where he was for six months.

She takes a step back still clutching the hand she grabbed and stares at him. The look in her eyes telling him everything he needs to know. She's afraid he will disappear again and she is ready to fight anything and everyone to make sure it doesn't happen. He always loved her fierceness but never wanted to cause her the pain that made this appear.

To her it's been six months to him it's been a day. A day since he woke up to her call telling him to come back to her. A day since she filled him in on his time away, the fight to find him again, the battle and causalities to get him back. He will never be able to repay their team, the boys and Lanie and even Gates. They never gave up on him and the determination is what got them here today.

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><p><em>It's been three months since their should be wedding. Three months and not a trace of Castle anywhere in the world. Kate and the boys have spent more hours in the precinct then they have in any of their own homes and the toll is beginning to show. Ryan has a new baby that is growing up quickly without a father. Esposito's back on relationship with Lanie is hanging by a thread, on because she has been working just as hard as the rest of them to find him. Even Gates has clocked more overtime hours assisting them than she has since she was a rookie detective.<em>

_They are so close to losing their last lead, a homeless man who saw the SUV driving down a back alley in the Bronx, when the call comes in. If they all weren't so tired they would have registered the oddness of the call coming to Kate's cell phone but when she answers they all know they are closer to bringing him home than they have been in months. _

_The voice on the other end is all at once familiar and menacing and Kate has to force herself not to shudder at the sound. His message of, "I have your fiancé. Time to play a came Detective Beckett." is short and to the point but it all they need. Kate knows who has Castle and she will do anything to bring him home. Including kill Jerry Tyson._

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><p>Her voice is soft when she calls to him. Just like it did last night when he had been lost in his head it snaps him out of his revere. "You with me here Rick." He's back and they are all safe from what she told him. He knows there is more to the story than the whispered conversation they shared. The new scares he felt on her shoulder and hip prove that but the important thing is he's back and she is here. Standing next to his bed with the same smile he fell in love with the first case they worked together. Because of that smile he knows the only response that makes sense "Always."<p>

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><p><em><strong>Yet again this was beta-less writing. I'm using this story as a free flowing chance to let my fingers fly across the keyboard and see what comes out of it. That being said please review and tell me just how horrible it ends up. I try to spell and grammar check but let's face it the more I read, the more I add on and that's just a bad process.<strong>_


	3. Chapter 3

_Because it's been a little while…_

_Her voice is soft when she calls to him. Just like it did last night when he had been lost in his head it snaps him out of his revere. "You with me here Rick?" He's back and they are all safe from what she told him. He knows there is more to the story than the whispered conversation they shared. The new scars he felt on her shoulder and hip prove that but the important thing is he's back and she is here. Standing next to his bed with the same smile he fell in love with the first case they worked together. Because of that smile he knows the only response that makes sense "Always."_

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><p><em>The call from Tyson has been the first, last and only clue they have of Rick's whereabouts recently. The homeless guy turned up to be a bust. So they were down to an uninformative call from a serial killer. But of course he was off of the line before they could trace the call. The only words exchanged had been, "I have your fiancé. Time to play a game Detective Beckett" and her reply of, "Fuck you Tyson." She's not even sure he heard her but it felt good getting it out. Even if it didn't do any good she got some of her pent up aggression out.<em>

_They still were no further along a week after the call. The torment worse now that she knew who they were dealing with, what the man holding him hostage was truly capable of not lost on her. Gates has kicked her out of the precinct three nights in a row when she found out she was sleeping on the break room couch, if twenty-minute naps can count as sleeping. So now a little more rested than before, Kate stands in front of the murder board staring at Castle's picture. The fact that she calls it a murder board in her head has her berating herself. He's not dead, not yet at least. Tyson would have loved to leave him somewhere for her to find if that was the case. _

_No. She knows Rick is alive somewhere out there and she has to hold on to that hope or risk drowning in the quicksand that makes the rabbit hole of her mother's case look easy to escape. Staring at his picture next to Tyson's mug shot strengthens her yet again. They will end this once and for all. And this time there will be no doubt in the death of Jerry Tyson. They will have a body and it will carry her bullet to the morgue._

Kate stands in the room that had become her second home, not always a happy one, over the last several months. Rick's recovery before and after his memory return had not been easy. There were more than just physical injuries to recover from and it had taken time. Time, patience and more love than she knew possible, from either one of them.

There wasn't a day that she didn't spend most of her free time in the sterile white room with Rick. Before and after lunch, on the rare lunch break, days off, on call days, sunny days, rainy days, she was there for them all. The emotional exhaustion of reliving their shared history weighed them down and brought them together stronger than ever. But all of it was coming to an end today.

One week shy of what would have been their one-year anniversary, Rick is finally coming home to the loft. As far as she's been concerned home has been anywhere where they were together but it hasn't been the same. Three months of him being gone, three months of him being here but gone from her and six months of him being so close yet so far away are finally giving way to an ending she can live with.

Sure they should probably be jetting off on some ridiculous vacation that Castle comes up with to celebrate their first anniversary but they haven't made it to the wedding yet. It will come; they both know it but not today. Today she's taking him home.

She pulled the car, the new one she bought for him to replace the one he lost, up to make it easier but he doesn't need the assistance. He's as strong as he ever was. No signs of the torture and pain, just a smile that he saves just for her. They hold hands as they walk out of the room and past the other patients in the halls. They all want to say goodbye. He was loved in this place because despite his status he treated them all as members of their family. Many nights were spent relaying their stories and struggles. He cared for them each greatly and she knows a piece of him will miss this place. He grew up a lot in the walls where many go at the end of their days. Their pain and suffering teaching him more about himself than he knew existed.

_She arrived at the rehab facility just in time for dinner. She planned on being there sooner but a break in their case had her stuck at the precinct. She's been trying to cut back her hours since his memory has started to come back. They have lots of time to make up for._

_She sees him seated at a table for six in the middle of the room. Of course the chair to his right is empty and waiting for her. It's been that way for weeks now, all meals coming from the cafeteria rather than the five star restaurants of the past. He doesn't want to show off or make it seem like he is better than the others so he eats as everyone else does. She might love him a little bit more for it. It doesn't hurt that the food is pretty good._

_She weaves through the tables towards him exchanging quick greetings with some of the patients she has come to know over the last month. More time spent in these walls than the walls of the loft recently has made her as known as Castle. He also may tell stories about her while she's at work. She hasn't confirmed it but from the looks she gets some nights she is sure it happens. He always has been a storyteller._

_She finally gets to his table and bends down to press a kiss to his head. He's mid story again and she doesn't want to interrupt. The four others, two wheelchair bound women and the two women she's come to call his fan club, sit enthralled. He looks up at the feel of her lips with a smile. Story forgotten, he pulls her down for a proper kiss. It's chaste but just what she's been waiting for since she left this morning when he was still sleeping._

"_Hey babe, go back to your story. I'm starving."_

_He takes her hand as she sits next to him, she eats with her right hand as he tells of the time he stopped a bomb at the last second. She cuts in when the exaggerations become too much, telling the poor women the real story. The two who form his fan club hang on his every word while the rest of the table seem to wait for her version to believe the truth. Smart women. _

_She finishes her meal as he wraps up his second, more believable story about Alexis and the Hampton's house and a incident in the ocean and his swim trunks. The group is laughing so hard she's afraid they will have to call the nurses to help out. She squeezes the hand he hasn't let go of to draw his attention. The look she gets in return stops her heart for a second._

_It's pure love, happiness and joy. It's a look she hasn't seen much of recently with the physical therapy during the mornings and the psychiatric therapy in the afternoon. Both combine to wear him down. But not today, today he's back to being Castle the little boy in awe of the word. She presses a kiss to the smile on his lips before she speaks. "I love you."_

"_I love you too. Let's go for a walk."_

_The walk is slow, he's just getting back the strength in his legs. He walks tonight because he has a story to tell her, a story that isn't his. It's the story of one of their dinner mates. He tells her of her husband whom she lost a couple years back after over 50 years together. He tells her of their whirlwind romance at a time when tomorrow wasn't guaranteed with wars and depressions. He tells her of the strength he sees in her at the end of her life. Her family had to put her in here after a fall in her home. He talks of her as if she is a queen or royalty not a regular citizen. She fascinates him, she can tell, and the stories and life she has to share._

_When they get back to his room and he's back in his bed, wrapped around her like always he tells her of the life he wants to lead after this place. The lessons he's learned from those around him showing him a new way. He's already called his people about financial contributions to other patients in need, charities to start or fund and other ways to help those around him. Kate looks at Rick for the first time that night and sees a man who has grown more in a short amount of time than she's ever seen._

_Richard Castle has never been a selfish man but spending his days with others who are suffering has made him into more. Someone she loves more than she ever thought she could. It's a change that she's sure will last after they leave. It's a change that turns your perspective on its head. Life is not to be taken for granted and as she falls asleep on his chest that night she knows that she will not waste another minute with the man she loves. They will tackle all of this together and they will give back to those here that have helped him so much. It goes beyond the workers; it's all of the people in this building who are building her fiancé up._

She knows that this won't be the last time they leave this place, just the last time they'll leave as patients. She's keeping him with her for a long time. They'll take care of his family in this building but right now his family at home waits for him. They get in the car together and as she pulls away from the building he squeezes her hand. She turns to him with tears in her eyes. "Let's go home."


End file.
